Larchmont, NY – The Notice of Race for the eagerly anticipated 28th Edition of the famed Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race Week has just been issued by Storm Trysail Club Rear Commodore and STC-BIRW Event Chair Ed Cesare. “We expect to have over 150 boats participate as we’ve expanded the number of racing formats to accommodate an even wider array of yachts – from world-class Grand Prix teams to families and friends racing their cruising boats. We will have the usual Windward/Leeward racing for the majority of the classes, but we will also include Pursuit and ‘Solent-Style’ racing formats.”

Dick Neville – On-The-Water Director for the regatta – explains, “Pursuit Racing assesses every boat’s handicap at the start of the race. Each boat starts individually at different times and then they race boat-for-boat to the finish. This is a more family-friendly format for the casual racer that avoids the close-quarters maneuvering that occurs during traditional starts. We experimented with this format in 2017 and at the Ted Hood Regatta in Marblehead this year and last. In each instance we’ve enjoyed an increased number of participants and tremendous feedback. It certainly adds another dimension to this event.”

“Solent-style racing (sometimes called ‘Navigator courses’) describes racing around government (permanent) buoys, as opposed to movable and inflatable marks. These courses typically include more points of sail than just beating and running,” said Ray Redniss, another veteran P.R.O. “It should appeal to those crews who are looking for a very competitive format, but who seek something new. Of course what is old is new again as this is the format used at Cowes Week in the UK, on which the original Block Island Race Week was patterned.”

Multi-Hull Racing, Non-Spinnaker racing, and the ORC handicap system – which is catching on in many areas of the country – are also returning. As always, there will be tent parties, shore-side activities, and all the fine dining, watering holes, beaches, and sights that Block Island has to offer.

Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race Week will offer 4 days of racing and is bringing back the popular lay day (if weather permits). The highlight of the regatta is the Around Block Island Race in which the entire fleet circumnavigates the beautiful resort island off the coast of RI. The biennial event was first held in 1965 after a number of Storm Trysail members participated in Cowes Week in England and were inspired to create an American version. Over a thousand sailors, plus their families, attend this very popular regatta.

The Storm Trysail Club, reflecting in its name the sail to which sailors must shorten when facing severe adverse conditions, is one of the world’s most respected sailing clubs, with its membership comprised strictly of skilled blue water and ocean racing sailors. Founded in 1938, it is currently celebrating its 80th Anniversary. The club is involved in organizing or co-organizing various prestigious offshore racing events including the annual Block Island Race, the biennial Block Island Race Week, The Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race, the Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race, The Down-the-Bay Race in the Chesapeake, The Mills Trophy Race in Lake Erie, and the Wirth Munroe Race from Miami to Palm Beach, Florida. They are also one of the four organizing clubs of the 2019 Transatlantic Race. For more information about the club, visit www.stormtrysail.org.

Lets go sailing.

"Alright now, this is a night start don't forget; so let's get somebody on lookout up on that bow...

Alright now, did you figure the current? For chrissake do I have to do everything? And don't forget to figure the daylight saving. What? No, you add an hour, for chrissake, can't anybody here sail a boat? What did he say? He said "turn off the engine". Oh, yeah. OK, how long 'til our start? Who's on the stopwatch? OK, you get back here outta the way and stay there.

Alright now, let's come about and get over near the committee boat. Alright, let's come about. COMIN' ABOUT! Wheres the handle, where's the handle - TAIL, willya, fer chrissake!! How's that? Take it in to the block. That's enough.

BANG! What gun was that? That was OUR GUN. Did you get that on the watch? Do you see that guy? Yeah, I see him. Alright now, we got five more minutes. Let's run the line for a second. You can't, YOU'RE ON PORT TACK. Oh, yeah, OK, let's come about again. COMIN' ABOUT! FOUR MINUTES, Well it's too crowded over here, let's get down to leeward where our air is clear.

CRASH!!!! What was that???? Well, put the stove in gimbals, for chrissake. Clean it up later, get up here. What the hell are you doing down there anyway? You can eat at home! THREE MINUTES...Did anybody center the prop? Well, center it, Charlie, don't stand there. There's a flashlight overhead in the doghouse. Well, try another one, I put all new batteries in yesterday. TWO MINUTES...Two minutes for chrissake where's the other end of the line, they got a line two miles long. We gotta come about. COMING ABOUT...OK, let it go letitgogoddamm it. Alright, get it in, get it in. It's fouled on the lifeline. DON'T JERK IT! You'll pull the goddam boat apart. Trim, trim, trim, OK, hold that. Where's the ------ing committee boat. We gotta come about again. COMING ABOUT! More turns, more turns. OK, cleat that. ONE MINUTE--Alright, slack everything, slack the jib, slack the main, SLACK THE MAIN...OK hold that ...THIRTY SECONDS...OK we're going for the line. Trim, trim, trim the main. FIFTEEN SECONDS...OK everybody up to windward....TEN SECONDS ...NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE.....for chrissake where's that gun...We're over the line. They'll never see us down here anyway. BANG! OK, we've started.

You did a great job with that stopwatch. OK, let's get these lines coiled up, I can't stand up in the cockpit. Good start, guys."